The Departure Lounge

Steve Rotheram, Labour mayor of Liverpool city region, tells me he is deeply critical of Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint the former editor of the Sun newspaper to a new Whitehall perm sec position in charge of all 7,000 civil servants engaged in communications and PR. He says that the paper Dinsmore once led “printed falsehoods that caused unimaginable pain” to Hillsborough and Liverpool families - and that should have been a red line that prevented his appointment (which is scheduled to be announced in the coming days). Here is @MetroMayorSteve’s statement in full: “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t comment on staffing decisions - especially those involving civil servants who, too often, are subjected to unfair criticism - but given the context, I feel compelled to speak out about the appointment of David Dinsmore, a former editor of The Sun, to a senior communications role in the Civil Service. For many people in our city, particularly those who fought for justice for the Hillsborough families, this appointment will be seen as a deeply insensitive choice, given the hurt caused to our communities unjustly targeted by that ‘newspaper’, Rupert Murdoch and his acolytes. Liverpool hasn’t forgotten. We haven’t forgiven. And we never will. The paper Dinsmore once led printed falsehoods that caused unimaginable pain. That shouldn’t be brushed off as a footnote in his CV, it should be a red line. There are legitimate questions that deserve answers. Was the process genuinely open, fair and transparent? Were the views and experiences of those affected by that brand of journalism taken into account? I fully support the government’s ambition to rebuild trust in politics. But appointments like this could risk undermining that effort. Trust can’t be restored by drawing from the same networks that helped erode it.”